'War/Dance' exploits the orphans it extols

In the beginning of "War/Dance," 14-year-old Dominic, one of 2 million refugees living in military-protected camps, says, "It is difficult to believe our story, but if we don't tell you, you won't know." By the end of the film, that story is still untold.

Directors Sean and Andrea Fine have set out to make an inspirational film about the transcendent power of music in a war zone. What they have achieved is a piece of emotional pornography. Unlike "Angels in the Dust," which allowed the tales of orphaned children to be told in innocent voices, the Fines augment recollections with creepy shots of insects, spooky images of the night sky and ominous soundscapes.

In one of the most appalling sequences, a young girl is taken back to the village where her father was slaughtered by insurgents. The camera records her hysteria at his grave.

"War/Dance" is exploitive while it pretends to be empathetic, and when it finally gets around to the music and dance festival in which this beleaguered tribe of North Ugandan war orphans compete, we are so exhausted by the filmmakers' abuse of their subjects that what should be triumphant is only a passing moment of glory in a nightmare without end.